Sugarcane : A Complete guide

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Saccharum officinarum

INTROUDCITON:

Sugar cane is C₄ plant it is a parineal crop. The plant takes 10 to 12 month under Pakistani condition. 18 month under Australian condition and 24 month in Cuba and Brazil condition to complete its life cycle. The plant grows from seed set called as plant crop. It is vegetative plant. Rising of succeeding crop after harvesting first year crop is known as ratoon crop. Sugar cane is very sensitive to cold injury. During frost conversion of sucrose to glucose takes place. The sugar mill are interested in sucrose while the farmer are interested in sugar cane weight. Therefore we need high sugar and high weight variety. It is a true seeded plant. They have five sub species

· Saccharum spontanium

· Saccharum sinensis

· Saccharum Bari beri

· Saccharum robustum

· Saccharum officinarum

 

SOIL REQUIREMENT:

Sugar cane can be grown in low fertile, medium fertile and high fertile soil. It is very essential the sugar cane should be grown in high fertile soil because of parineal crop and produce high biomass.

CLIMATE:

The sugar cane is tropical crop it can tolerate high temperature but the optimum temperature at the time of sowing should not be less than 12 ºC to 18 ºC. The optimum temperature for growth is 30 ºC.

PLANTING SEASON:

There are two seasons:

· Winter season (September sowing)

· Spring season (February to March sowing)

In winter season intercropping takes place for example onion in Sindh and wheat, mustard in Punjab. In February to March only onion can be sown.

LAND PREPARATION:

Sugar cane requires deep tillage. Deep tillage includes Mould board plough and those farmers who do not have tractor they use Sarkar plough made up of wood. There are two types of sowing in sugar cane. Sugar cane is sow in furrow area as it is water-loving plant. Row to row distance is 3-5 ft.

CONTENTS:

Thin variety seed is sown for 60-70 munds per acre. It contains 13-14% fiber & 70% water, 10-11% sugar and 2-3% impurities, 1-2% glucose. We have to evaporate the water than we will get the sugar. Plant to plant distance is 9-12 inches over lapping of sets take place. Buds and leaf grown alternately. Leaf covers the bud to protect it in order to safe the bud from the outer environments. If the bud damages than the growth does not occurs/ takes place.

SEED SELECTION:

Ratoon type crop are not selected. It is better to cut the top portion of crop as top portion contain good amount of glucose and lower portion contain sucrose. Immature seed is better than mature plant seeds. 40,000 to 60,000 sets are grown in 1 acre.

VARIETIES:

· BL-4 Barbados + Lyallpur

· POJ Java variety in Indonesia

· COL In India 113-116 Comibitor + Lyallpur

· BF Barbados + Faisalabad 129

· BF-162

· Thatta-10

· SPSG-26

· CP Canal point

 

GERMINATION RATE:

· Top portion of sugar cane give 70% germination

· Middle portion of sugar cane give 40% germination

· Basal portion contain more salts therefore its germination is 30%

· Covering of sugar cane is called “rind” which contain parenchyma cells it contain sugar content.

· Roots are known as fibrous roots.

· When the stem bends and than the root which arises are known as butterious roots.

· Basal root contain glucose only which help in growth.

· Earthing up (prevents from water logging) should be done in the month of June.

· One bud can arises 40 to 50 sugar cane.

SEED TREATEMENT:

Sugar cane seed in the form of sets can be treated with fungicides or in hot water.

SOIL FERTILITY:

Before land preparation we need good manuring crop. Before seeding or flowering we have to plough the green manuring. After this we have to irrigate the land in order to decompose the green manuring. Before sowing the crop a month ago we have to do manuring 10 to 15 tones per acre should be use a month ago before sowing the crop. Farmyard manuring should be decomposing properly.

FERTILIZER REQUIREMENT:

First we have to satisfy the phosphorous requirement.

· At sowing:

2 bags of DAP or 2 bags of TSP or 5 bags of SSP and 1 bag of SOP or MOP.

· Seedling stage:

It comes after 1 month of sowing. 1 bag of urea when the temperature is high above 20 ºC than 2 bag of A.N is used.

· Tillering stage:

This stage comes after 2 month of sowing 1 bag of urea. After 3 months of tillering 1 bag of urea is used.

IRRIGATION:

In September sowing (autumn) we need 40% to 45% time of irrigation of crops. For February to March sowing we need 30% to 34% times irrigation of crop (spring season). For September irrigation we need 4.5-acre foot water. For February to March irrigation we need 3-acre foot of water.

 

DISEASES:

· Red rot

· Whips smut

· Mossaic virus

· Ratoon stunting disease (RSD)

CONTROL:

· Healthy seed

· Resistance variety

· Crop rotation

INSECT PEST:

· Termite

· Pyrilla

· Milli bug

· Red mites

BORERS OF SUGAR CANE:

· Stem borer

· Top borer

· Pink borer

· Gurdas pur

Crop biofortification

Written by Fahim Nawaz

A GROWTH rate of 1.2 per cent was estimated in the agriculture sector of the country during 2010-11 with a significant increase in staple food crops like wheat, maize and sugarcane.

These crops are grown to feed the country’s ever increasing population with little awareness about the hidden malnutrition. No real effort has been made to enrich crops with nutritional value required for improving human health.

Most farmers are illiterate and do not have knowledge about modern farming. This is a real challenge for the extension workers, breeders and researchers to create awareness among them. Farmers need to be encouraged to replace modern varieties periodically, as these lose their resistance to new evolving strains of disease.

In this respect, the role of plant breeders is very important and challenging. Plant breeding technology has great impact as breeding of micronutrient dense staple food crops can deliver most of the micronutrients. Micronutrient dense staple food crops can be introduced by using best traditional practices and biotechnology to achieve pro-vitamin A, zinc and iron concentrations.

Plant breeders can work with nutritionists to introduce high nutrient traits into agronomically superior varieties and to determine the quantity of a nutrient required in a crop to improve human nutrition. The loss of nutrients also occurs during harvesting, storage, processing, or cooking and these losses must be considered before determining breeding target levels.

International research organisations like Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research have been working in the country to evaluate the feasibility of using modern breeding techniques to develop micronutrient-enriched new varieties of staple crops.

Another international organisation Harvest Plus is working in collaboration with the scientists of Aga Khan University, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, to develop zinc-fed wheat crop. The scientists in these research organisations are working on the breeding strategy to incorporate high zinc and iron traits into wheat varieties resistant to new strains of yellow and stem rust but their efforts would not bear fruit until farmers realise the importance of bio-fortification of crops.

The enrichment of food crops with nutrients can also be achieved by adaptation of suitable agronomic practices. A recent research has shown that trace minerals also help plants to resist disease and biotic stresses. The survival of more seedlings will ensure rapid initial growth which ultimately results in higher yields particularly in trace mineral ‘deficient’ soils in arid regions.

This suggests the dual benefit of enrichment of crops with nutrients.

The extension workers can play a pivotal role in introducing new technology among farming communities. The best agronomic practices would help preserve and enhance nutrient balance of micronutrient dense seeds. In fact, biofortification would help increase farm productivity in an environmentally-beneficial way.

It is time that agriculture and nutrition disciplines collaborate to improve human nutrition. A multidisciplinary research team of scientists from different disciplines should be made to work in this direction.

Plant breeders should be encouraged to include micronutrients in their breeding portfolios along with higher yield, disease resistance and other agronomic traits. Public health officials must understand the importance of micronutrients consumption in food and help end micronutrient malnutrition.

The biofortification of crops would get support among farmers, research scientists, health professionals, and policymakers, once it is proven a viable, cost-efficient and effective solution for combating micronutrient malnutrition.

Courtesy: Dawn

CANE SUGAR SUPPLY CHAIN

Sugar Cane – from field to mill

Sugar cane is a giant grass. It grows in tropical and semitropical regions, up to three metres in height.  Key ingredients for successful growth are rainfall and sunlight. The majority of the agriculture that supplies cane to Europe is not irrigated and relies solely on rainfall.

Harvesting is either manual or mechanical. In both cases the cane is cut close to the ground and the leaves removed. The plant re-grows the following year from the original root. The harvested cane is transported as rapidly as possible to the sugar mill in order for the sugar to be extracted; this maximises the content and quality of sugar in the cane.

From Sugar Cane to Raw Sugar – at the sugar mill

The sugar from the cane is extracted at the sugar mill, which is typically located close to, or in the sugar cane growing area to avoid delay and reduce transport costs and related environmental impacts. The aim of the sugar mill is to extract as much sugar as possible from cane. Juice is extracted by crushing the cane between massive rollers. The juice is then filtered before being crystallised. Energy is a key input to this stage of the process.

The energy needs of the sugar mill are typically met by converting the energy in the fibre (called bagasse) from the crushed cane stalk into heat and electricity. The bagasse is used to fuel the boilers that power the mill. In many cases the mill will generate electricity from steam, and a surplus of bagasse often results in electricity being exported to local electricity users.

The sugar mill will typically produce raw sugar for refining. This raw sugar needs further refining before it can be used in the food chain. In some cases sugar mills have been modified to enable production of direct consumption sugars.

Raw Sugar – from mill to our refineries

Raw sugar is shipped in bulk ocean-going vessels from the sugar mill directly to our port-based refineries in London and Lisbon. The journey can take from 2 weeks, from the Caribbean, to as long as 6 weeks from Asia and Fiji. The wide geography of our supply base means that harvests are under way throughout the year. When it arrives at our refineries, the sugar is unloaded as quickly as possible by large grab cranes to minimise freight costs. At the Thames Refinery each grab holds 16 tonnes of raw sugar.

From raw sugar to customer – at the refinery

Our cane sugar refineries in London and Lisbon manufacture a large portfolio of sugar products from the bulk raw sugar. The refinery removes the remaining impurities and colour from the bulk raw sugar, and then tailors the sugar to meet the customers’ requirements. A full portfolio of sugars is produced in crystal, liquid and syrup form.

Highly skilled engineers, chemists and plant operatives are at the heart of the operation, ensuring that the maximum amount of marketable sugar is extracted from the raw material using as little energy as possible. Around one-third of the sugar is sold through retailers under our own brands. The rest is sold to food manufacturers, mostly in the EU but also in export markets such as North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Manufactured sugar products are shipped to over 2,000 customers across the world.